Mirror Magic
by thaler
Summary: Ron and Hermione finally see what they have so far been oblivious to, but a mystery surrounding Professor McGonagall doesn't give them much time for smooching... HP/GW in there too for good measure. Fellow fanficcers, it is your duty, nay, your JOB to R+R
1. Christmas Morning

Before I begin, let's just ask ourselves - 'how likely is it that the (no- doubt quite brilliant) Sally created these wonderful characters herself?' Well, I'd like to think that I could have made them up myself, but let's face it, i'm not the one with a few billion in my bank like some authors I could mention, (no, i'm not bitter. Just twisted.) and the one I am going to mention is the wonderful JK Rowling. This all belongs to her. I know it's hard to believe, but there we go. The plot, however, belongs to me. And if JK nicks it I'll sue her ass. (Just kidding, JK, do what you want with it I love ya.) This is set in the 6th year.  
  
Harry woke up Christmas morning with a jolt. He was momentarily surprised to see Hermione sitting comfortably cross-legged at the end of Ron's bed. They were talking softly, so as not to wake Harry, and Hermione was struggling to subdue her laughter at something Ron had said. They had not noticed he was awake yet, so Harry closed his eyes again and pretended to be asleep. This had happned occasionally before. He groaned internally, and decided that just this once, he wouldn't get up and inturrept their dumb conversation, which he was sure from past experience would just follow a downward spiral into bickering. Oddly, for Hermione and Ron at least, this morning they both seemed to be in an unusually good mood.  
  
-"Hey Ron, you'll never guess who Neville asked to go to the ball with him since he and Ginny broke up?" said Hermione, doubling up with laughter.  
  
She was now fifteen, bright eyed and with the same anxious air when it came to her studies. She had grown up now, since the events of the previous year which had shaken them all, and now that the whole Order of the Phoenix affair had been completed, she seemed particularly womanly compared to the other girls in the sixth year who hadn't been through the ordeals which Ron, Harry and Hermione had been through.  
  
-"Who?"  
  
-"Only Millicent Bulstrode! Everyone else already had a partner and she's way too ugly, even for a Slytherin to ask out, so she was the only one left." -"Woah!" laughed Ron "I didn't think even Neville would ever have to stoop so low!" - "that's just the thing, Neville can't stand her either, he just thinks he can make Ginny feel jealous if he has another girl with him at the ball"  
  
Harry struggled to keep himself from laughing at the thought of little nervous Neville turning up at the ball with his nose in the air, steered along by the huge Millicent, every so often glancing at Ginny to ensure that she was justly saddened at the sight of him with 'Another Woman'.  
  
"Well, Neville's championing a lost cause there, because guess which little friend of ours asked Ginny to the ball the moment he heard she and Neville were breaking up?"  
  
Ron's eyes widened. "Not Harry!"  
  
"Yep" nodded Hermione.  
  
"My own bloody sister!" laughed Ron incredulously, "he wouldn't tell me who he was going with, how did you find out?"  
  
"Ginny told me," answered Hermione happily.  
  
Ron grinned. "Now I'll really have something to take the piss out of him about when he wakes up."  
  
They both looked at Harry, and he quickly shut his eyes tightly hoping it looked realistic. He decided he would wait a bit more, he had noticed that Ron and Hermione perhaps fought less recently. This could probably only be seen to the particularly observant, thought Harry wryly, to anyone else Ron and Hermione just never let any arguement go... But Hermione had recently also asked Harry a lot of boring, trivial things about Ron, and Harry couldn't see why she couldn't just ask Ron herself. And although right now their conversation seemed friendly and open, it sounded like they were both a bit uncomfortable or embarrassed about something.  
  
Ron, too had grown up to be a attractive young man. He had, over the summer, been transformed from a tall, gangly freckly scruff, into a good- looking boy with more than his fair share of female sixth-year admirers. The red hair and freckles were still there, but he now had a rather more serious facial expression, complete with a strong jawbone and now the slight shade of stubble which indicated that he had started shaving. He had grown about a foot taller than Harry and Hermione, and to Harry's chagrin, was probably stronger and more muscular than the two of them put together.  
  
For a few seconds there was a silence between Ron and Hermione, then suddenly Ron said awkwardly:  
  
"I suppose you've invited Viktor to the ball with you?"  
  
"Uh, no, actually I haven't."  
  
"Oh" said Ron, and Harry opened his eyes again to see Ron's surprised face and pink ears. "Who're you going with then?" Ron asked quietly.  
  
"Well," said Hermione, looking away, "no-one yet. No one's asked me"  
  
"Oh" said Ron again. There was another long silence. Harry wondered if he should get up now, and tell them he had heard everything they'd said and get Ron's laughing at him for going out with Ginny over and done with, but suddenly Ron broke the silence.  
  
" Well, uh, Hermione, would you, I mean, shall we, maybe we could....."  
  
"Yes?" asked Hermione sheepishly.  
  
"I'd - well... d'you, wanto, you'know?" said Ron hurriedly. It seemed more of a statement than a question.  
  
Hermione looked at him with innocent expectation. "Do I want to what?" Harry watched her through squinted eyes and recognised a mischievous look which she wasn't disguising very well.  
  
"Oh, dammit Hermione, you know exactly what." "I haven't a clue.", she replied, grinning. "And don't swear, it's vulgar" she added as an afterthought.  
  
Ron blushed, quite overcome with embarrassment. Harry thought Hermione had quite a blatant look of relish despite her wide-eyed, innocent eyes.  
  
"Look, we've known each other for ages, right? And I don't know about how you feel at all, but I really like you. You know. Not just like a friend. Please, Hermione? I mean, will you go to the ball with me?" "Damn," Ron muttered softly, "I didn't think it would be this hard."  
  
A slow smile began to steal across Hermione's lips. "So you're not asking me just because you can't find anyone else to go with you?" she asked slyly.  
  
"No! You know I'm not! " answered Ron gruffly. "Look ,you don't have to if you don't want to" he said quickly. His seventeen year old, six foot frame now looked quite small and boyish, perched up in the huge bed like that, with a pleading look in his eyes.  
  
Harry grinned beneath the sheets. Now he had something to use against Ron whenever he started teasing him about Ginny, and he wouldn't be forgetting about this in a while. Harry couldn't help peeping his eyes open a fraction to see what Hermione's response would be. It was with a bit of shock and some amusement that he heard Hermione say "Of course I'll go with you Ron, I've wanted you to ask me for ages. I had sort of given up hope."  
  
He could see them both blushing furiously, matching shades of deep magenta. Suddenly they both leaned forward and at the same time and gave each other what seemed to Harry to be an very long kiss. Harry hastily closed his eyes. It was one thing to hear what they were saying to one another, but it was quite another to infringe the privacy of his two best friends' first kiss.  
  
Hermione got up, smiling sheepishly. "I'd better go, he'll wake up in a minute" she said, pointing at Harry. She opened the door to the boys dorms and gave Ron a quick smile before she left.  
  
Ron sat there for a minute, grinning happily.  
  
Harry started laughing uncontrollably. He tried to sit up straight. Ron looked at him, his face a strange mix of shock, indignance, embarrassment and happiness. You weren't really asleep! You were eavesdropping!" he said hotly.  
  
"Sorry," said Harry still laughing "I was going to get up and interrupt your conversation, but by that time I was having too much fun.."  
  
They both sat there grinning at each other for a few moments, and every so often Harry would erupt into another fit of giggles.  
  
"Oh shut up!" said Ron eventually, even though he was still smiling "Why didn't you tell me you were going to ask Ginny anyway?"  
  
"I thought you'd just take the piss. I mean, she's your sister."  
  
"Well you were right there! Ha! You and my sister..!"  
  
"Yeah well, at least I don't go around kissing her at every available opportunity," grinned Harry.  
  
"Oh shut up." said Ron again. But at the mention of kissing he started grinning inanely again. 


	2. Mirror Mirror

Having overcome the initial shock which the sight of Ron and Hermione kissing evoked in Harry, and subsequently making fun of Ron to his hearts content afterwards, Harry pulled on his robes and started energetically brushing his hair. He had pulled on his normal school robes, he would change into his dress robes later. He suddenly remembered the money he had given the twins to buy Ron some new robes, he wondered if they had ever got round to buying them. He fervently hoped so, he guessed Ron would be even more embarrassed about his old lacy ones now that he had finally plucked up the courage to ask someone he actually liked to the ball. Harry ran to the door to make his way down the steps to the common room to ask Fred and George about it. At the door he suddenly stopped and quickly hurried back to the mirror to check on himself. Ginny might be downstairs after all. The thought surprised him and made him faintly cross with himself. It wasn't as if Ginny hadn't seen him a zillion times before. He shrugged off the nervous feeling at the pit of his stomach- almost like the wait before entering McGonagalls study for detention, he thought- and slowly walked downstairs.  
  
Ron was already downstairs with the twins standing around him. Harry could see the new dress robes in Ron hands.  
  
"Why the hell did you get me these!" he was shouting worriedly  
  
George gave him a smile, "We knew your old ones were pretty awful, we thought it was time to get our little bruv some new ones." "Yeah, aren't we allowed to do a few good deeds here an' there? We're not completely bad you know," Fred frowned.  
  
"Where did you get the money from though? Oh no, you didn't steal it did you?" A look of horror passed through Ron's face.  
  
A look of equal horror passed over both twins simultaneously. "Don't be so stupid, course we didn't steal it. Look, just wear it and give it a rest will you. We're going."  
  
The twins left Ron standing there, holding the rich, velvety robes in shock.  
  
"Wow Ron, those are amazing" grinned Harry. "You'd better get those upstairs for later"  
  
So Ron, in a confused daze, ambled upstairs while Harry sat waiting for him in the warm common room. There was no-one else there and Harry could hear nothing except for the soft buzz of powerful magic which both students and teachers got used to without really noticing it. Harry walked slowly towards the common room entrance and stood outside in the corridor for a moment. At first he thought no- one was there, but then he heard a soft murmuring, as though someone was talking absent-mindedly to themselves. Harry peered round the statue in front of him. To his surprise he saw Professor Mc Gonagall standing in front of a mirror.  
  
"Er, Professor McGonagall" said Harry cautiously.  
  
She didn't seem to hear him. She was still talking into the mirror, but it was obvious that she was not talking to herself. She was talking to someone else, and she didn't appear to be looking into the mirror, but through it.  
  
Harry repeated himself more loudly but she still didn't respond. Harry assumed she wanted to be left alone, but he was still confused. He gingerly muttered the password and walked back into the common room.  
  
Hermione and Ron were inside and Ron was obviously now telling her about the dress robes Fred and George had bought him. Ron looked less worried now and they were both laughing warmly. Harry could see the way Ron looked at Hermione. He was almost glowing and Harry wondered that he hadn't really noticed before.  
  
"Hi Hermione" said Harry absently.  
  
Both Ron and Hermione knew something was up.  
  
"What's the matter Harry?" they both asked almost at the same time. Harry told them about Professor Mc Gonagall and paused to see their reaction.  
  
"I always knew McGonagall was batty."  
  
"Mirror magic!"  
  
"What?" said Harry  
  
"I said I always knew-"  
  
"Oh shut up Ron he means what did I say" said Hermione impatiently. She gave him a quick grin to show she didn't mean it.  
  
"What's mirror magic?" asked Harry  
  
"Well," said Hermione, "It's very advanced magic and it is very dangerous. It can drive even the best wizards and witches mad. Did you say she was just using one mirror, which was in front of her?"  
  
Harry nodded, yes.  
  
"That's not possible," said Hermione frowning, "you need one in frond of you and one behind. You see, The reflection of the reflection keeps going, an infinite number of times, feeding back into itself again and again, forever. If something comes between the mirrors, it also starts feeding back into itself. Of course, you don't just stand in between the two mirrors, you actually have to get into them through your mind. It's mental magic, no wands, no spells, nothing."  
  
"Cool" grinned Ron.  
  
"But what can you use it for?" asked Harry.  
  
"Well, if you're dying, it can keep you alive, but it is dangerous. Like I said, It is really easy to go mad."  
  
"Oh no," said Ron "you don't think she's dying do you?"  
  
They all looked at each other. "She could be. That's awful. But Professor McGonagall is too sensible to do that given the dangers" said Hermione, as though she was trying to convince herself.  
  
"You're right" agreed Ron, "she always says 'don't do magic if you don't have complete control over it and you don't know what exactly it could do to you'"  
  
Both Harry and Hermione looked at him in surprise. "Since when have you been paying attention in McGonagall's lessons" laughed Harry  
  
Ron shrugged  
  
"Listen, said Hermione "I don't think we should get worried. Mirror magic is also used to look at places all over the world through your mirror. You see through another mirror in the place you want to look. Look Harry, show us where you saw her."  
  
Harry took them outside in the corridor. Professor McGonagall wasn't there. The small mirror she had been looking through was no- longer there. He showed the other two where the mirror was before.  
  
Look, said Hermione, "It's obvious. She was using the window directly behind her as a mirror to get a reflection. I was right. She must be doing mirror magic. But why?..."  
  
Phew...That's it for today folks. Thank you very much to Mango for a positive review!  
  
Cheers to all those about to click the little "Go" button below, I appreciate it! Review honestly please, I don't mind criticism as I just want to become a better writer. *She sings*: "Cruel to be kind in the right measure, cruel to be kind it's a very good sign...la la la" (From the soundtrack to 'Ten things I Hate About You', I know I'm really saaaad but Heath Ledger is still d-d-gorgeous). (Drop-dead)  
  
Sal  
  
P.S. Do you Americans also use the word 'sad' to mean uncool? Maybe it is originally an American thing and I didn't notice...hmmm... 


	3. The Yule Ball

The question of why Proffessor McGonagall was doing mirror magic stayed with all three of them for the rest of the evening. They decided that the only other person they would tell would be Ginny, and even that took a lot of persuasion on Harry's part.  
  
But by the time it was time to get ready for the yule ball, all thoughts of mirror magic had gone right out of their heads  
  
Harry and Ron , and Hermione and Ginny all went their separate ways to get dressed for the ball. The boys dorms were full of high spirited chatter, all talking confidently at the top of their voices, but strangely enough, no-one seemed quite prepared to go downstairs to the hall to face their partners, even if they were fully clothed. Harry had got changed, but Ron was looking at his robes suspiciously. "Look, Harry, d'you think they've jinxed it?"  
  
"Don't be so dumb Ron, course they havn't. They're allowed to be nice to you sometimes arn't they?"  
  
Seeing that Ron still did not look convinced Harry gave an exasperated sigh. "Look Ron, I lost a bet to the twins and they bought the robes from that money ok?" Harry lied. " Really?" said Ron brightening "What did you bet?-" But Harry, catching sight of Neville in his dress robes, had found the perfect opportunity to get away.  
  
"C'm on Ron, even Neville's ready, let's go."  
  
All three boys stood in front of the mirror. Harry was having a battle with his hair and Neville gave off the general air of dishevillment. Ron however was looking in the mirror in astonishment, having never seen himself in clothes which were new and also fitted. His shoes had been polished so well you could almost hear them gleam, and his hair was tidy for a change.  
  
Happily, Ron had never experienced this before so he was not vain or proud, in fact he was a bit nervous.  
  
"I know I look better than usual, but do you think i'll be good enough for Hermione? I mean, did you see her at the ball last year?"  
  
"Don't be stupid Ron, you look great. Besides, Hermione probably won't notice how you look. I don't remember what Hermione was wearing last year anyway."  
  
" No way Harry, trust me she'll notice. She's a girl. And since you don't remember, I think i'll refresh your memory, last year Hermione came in with her hair all done up in this complicated knot thingy, and she was wearing a dress, and -"  
  
"Oh give over, Ron. Hey, does Ginny notice stuff like that?" asked Harry nervously.  
  
At the mention of Ginny, Neville looked up from a knot he was trying to untie which had attatched his shoes together. "Oh, you're going with Ginny are you Harry?" he said as casually as possible.  
  
"Yup" answered Harry.  
  
"Right"  
  
"Right"  
  
"Ok, ok, break it up you two," grinned Ron. "let's go!"  
  
They all slowly made their way down to the gread hall. Before they entered they all took an audible intake of breath. The school had been bewiched and the stairs had been forced to reorganise, so that the steps down from the girls dorms led directly to the doors on one side of the great hall and the boys on the other side, so that they could not meet up with their partners before the ball. As they entered Harry could not see anything but a sea of heads. He was vaguely aware of Neville being led of by the irrepressable Millicent, and the music in the background. He and Ron stood opposite the doors at the other end of the hall. The doors kept opening, but there was no sign of either Hermione or Ginny.  
  
Suddenly he felt a pair of little warm hands covering his eyes from behind. From the sound of Rons protestations he guessed the same thing had happened to Ron. He turned a round and saw Ginny standing there grinning from ear to ear. She looked so beautiful he suddenly wished he could apparate back to the dorms and brush his hair another few thousand times.  
  
When Ron turned around and saw Hermione, for a few moments he was speechless. Ron was lost for words so rarely that for a moment Hemione was nervous. Had he realised that maybe they were better off "just friends" after all? Did she look silly? But all Ron said was, "Wow Hermione, you look, really.....wow..!....I... wow .."  
  
And as that was probably the biggest complement Ron had ever payed anyone, and as Hermione had been his friend for so long that she knew this very well, they both stood for a long time just staring at another stupidly.  
  
"D'you want to dance?" stammered Harry to Ginny. "Yes" said Ron seriously. Harry, Hermione and Ginny stared at Ron for a minute and then, slowly, they all started to laugh. The spell had been broken and they all relaxed.  
  
Harry grabbed Ginny round the waist and they started dancing to a slow song. Ginny put her arms around his neck and leant her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes. She could barely believe that this was happenning to her. She though of how many girls would give their right arms to be in her position. But the fact that he actually liked her, when he could have had virtually any other girl in the whole year.  
  
Harry savoured the moment. He discovered that he liked having her close to him, her body felt so warm and comfortable. He wondered suddenly what it would feel like to kiss her. Maybe he should after the dance ended. Maybe that was what girls expected of you. He wasn't sure. For the moment, he just didn't want to let go of her, she felt so good  
  
Ron and Hermione were not having this problem. Basic farmiliarity meant that both of them knew each other so well that they could anticipate exactly what the other would want. After the dance ended, Ron kissed Hermione gently on the cheek and said, "Thanks Hermione". Hermione just could not help smiling. Ron was perfect and it had taken her way too long to realise it. All those wasted hours. They still argued of course, and frequently, they just argued in the knowledge that they loved each other. Not that Ron would ever actually say that, he would be too embarrassed, and Hermione would think it showed some sort of weakness on her part. But they both slently agreed on it.  
  
After the dance ended Harry reluctantly let go of Ginny and asked her if he could get her a drink. They danced another few dances, Harry's unease at dancing in front of other people quite forgotten. They kept dancing and talking until past one o clock, when people started saying their goodbyes to their partners and drifting out of the hall. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were of the last couples to leave. The doors bewitchment had been reversed, so that the couples could leave out of the same doors. The four eventually trudged upstairs to their dorms, and Ron and Hermione kissed each other one last time and went their separate ways. Harry and Ginny however, lingered in the corridor for a while longer looking at each other in embarrassed silence. Finally Harry said "Er, thanks for coming to the ball with me, it was really nice of you, I enjoyed it.  
  
"Well, so did I" said Ginny looking at her shoes hoping she didn't look too hopeful.  
  
Harry, who had decided he couldn't bear it any longer asked, " Look, can I kiss you?"  
  
Ginny looked up. Her expression meant that he didn't really need her to say any thing. He stooped down and, awkwardly at first, kissed her. It came naturally to him how he should do it, and she was kissing him back, which made him feel even better. They wrapped their arms around each other and stood there the cold corridor sharing each others body heat. Harry could smell her hair from here, it was silky and smooth and smelt so simple and homely. He could definitely get used to this. He didn't want to let her go. When their eyes finally met again they slowly, reluctantly, let go.  
  
"I've got to go now Harry. bye." She walked slowly away, a vaguely confused expression on her face. When she had reached the end of the corridor, and Harry was just about to tear his eyes away from her and go to his own dorms, she turned around and ran back to him. Suddenly, she flung her arms round his neck again and kissed him, burying her head into his neck. Harry grabbed the small of her back and gently pulled her even closer to him, feeling her hair and her face and with one final kiss on her lips that felt so nice she wished he'd just do it again, he walked slowly into the boys dorms. 


	4. Professor McGonagall

Ron was sitting on his bed with his wand set on lumos. "Did you kiss her?" he asked slowly, as Harry wandered in, alook of rapture on his face which made it plain that it was a dumb question.  
  
"Look, she's my sister, and if you hurt her and go off with someone else i'll- I don't know what i'd do, I mean, everyone knows you could have any girl in the school, ok, so if you mess up my little sister i'll-"  
  
"Don't be daft Ron- anyway, I... I really love her."  
  
Ron was a bit taken aback at this. "Anyway," said Harry with a grin, "she's not such an innocent little thing as you might think, she came back and kissed me. She's good too." he added, just to irritate Ron.  
  
Ron was about to protest whe they heard a noise outside. Someone was talking softly outside the door, they could only hear it because everyone else was sleeping and they were the only ones talking. Harry and ron both got up simultaneously and walked through the door. There stood Professor McGonagall, seemingly oblivious to the fact that two students were out of bed, one fully clothed, at two o clock in the morning.  
  
"Er, Professor McGonagall," said Ron tentatively.  
  
Harry realised at once that it seemed to be thae same situation he had caught Professor McGonagall in last time. "She won't hear you. Let's go and get Hermione and Ginny, Hermione knows about stuff like this. It's mirror magic again."  
  
Ron gaped at Proffessor Mc Gonagall. Harry grabbed his sleeve and dragged him to the girls dormitories. Ron seized Hemione's shoulders and hurriedly pulled her up.  
  
"Hermione, come quickly, Proffessor McGonagall's practicing mirror magic again! Get up!" Hermione who was literally being pulled out of bed muttered sleepily "Wassat? Mmmm... Ron, want sleep. Goway, sleep..  
  
Ron indicated for Harry to wake Ginny up. Harry gently shook Ginny's shoulder. She sat up, her eyes clothes and her hair dishevilled and placed her arms drowsily round Harry's neck to keep her body upright, murmuring "Harry what's going on? I'm all sleepy.."  
  
Harry smiled broadly in the darkness. Ron frowned at him,"Look wake up you two, we've got to go."  
  
So Harry and Ron half dragged half pushed the girls out of the room, Ron whispering "Shhhhh!" In an worried frenzy every so often. By the time they reached the outside corridor the girls were nearly awake, and if Hermione wasn't, the thought of being in front of Professor McGonagall in her nightshirt certainly did the trick. Professor McGonagall was still muttering into the mirror. They could see her back reflected in the window behind her. All four stared at her in horror. Suddenly Ginny had a thought.  
  
"Look, when she snaps out of this it won't look good if we're standing in, spying on her." Ron agreed, "Yeah, we've all been in enough trouble already."  
  
But Hermione looked aghast. "I looked up mirror magic in the library before getting ready for the ball, apparently it's been banned for 15 years now, you're not allowed to do it any more. She could get into so much trouble if anyone catches her doing this."  
  
"We just have." observed Harry grimly. "What'll we do?"  
  
For once, Hermione did not have any answers. "Look, she must be really desperate if she's breaking the law," said Hermione. "Hold on, something's happening in the mirror!" she said suddenly "It's going black!"  
  
And sure enough, it was. They all edged closer to the mirror, now standing about half a foot away from Professor McGonagall. She still did not seem to notice them. She was talking in a low, soft tone, but it was just about possible to hear her.  
  
"Please don't hide yourself, I need to see you, this is important, you can't ignore me forever I need you. I think I'm going mad and I need you now, you must believe me, it's imperative that I discuss this with you, I've been trying for days now and I know you're there. Unless you show me you can hear me I will have to keep trying and eventually someone will catch me and then what will you do. Even you require my life don't you?"  
  
"Who do you think she's talking to?" Hermione whispered. Ron looked worried. "Harry, if the Professor's in trouble maybe you should speak to Dumbledore about it, he'll believe you, and god knows you've been in his office enough times to know him pretty well" said Ron, his eyebrow raised. "Thanks a bunch Ron, it's great the way you're so eager to spread around information about the many times i've got into trouble" said Harry crossly, looking away from Ginny in embarrassment. "Alright, break it up you two" said Ginny, poking Ron angrily, "We're just all a bit tired. I don't think we should tell anyone at the moment. I like Professor McGonagall and she wouldn't do anything illegal unless she was in serious trouble and there was a real problem. But we can't wait around, she might snap out of it any minute. Hermione, we'll go back to our dorms and we'll need you to tell us all you can about the mirror magic, tomorrow we can go to the library and see if we can find out more." Ron sighed. "Alright, sorry Harry," he muttered gruffly "let''s go." He reached out to hold Hermione's hand and all four made their way to the girls' dorms, and sat in a huddle in a corner.  
  
They settled down, the two couples trying to sit as cuddled close to each other as was possible without gaining eye - contact. Harry looked at Ron and Hermione, now murmering confidingly to each other and occasionally laghing softly - and grinned to himself. This time last year - hell, this time last week even - who would have thought that those two would be so romantic? He stole a glance in Ginny's direction. He liked her so much, but they didn't have the same feeling of ease around them that Ron and Hermione had. Their relationship was, however, just as nice he thought. Exciting - he was seeing sides to Ginny he had never noticed before - sides which he definitely liked. He couldn't help it, pushed on by the cosy warmth of the moment, he leant across and quickly kissed her, ignoring Ron and Hermione sitting directly opposite. This had the quick affect of dragging Ron's attention away from his Hermione, and he cleared his throat and said, "Alright then, Hermione, tell us all you know."  
  
"Well, it's not much really. McGonagall's obviously reaching through the mirror to somebody, in most of the cases i've read about two people will be able to communicate through pretty much anything reflective. It's not easy though, the Professor must be even more powerful than I had imagined, i'm quite surprised." Harry sat up at this. For Hermione to say something like that was unusual, and she knew her stuff. He had never really thought about the professor as anything but very clever and strict, but powerful? Somehow that didn't fit with his mental file for his teacher.  
  
"Anyway," Hermione carried on, "You can't just talk to anyone through mirror magic, you actually have to have a very strong emotional bond with them, usually witches and wizards who use this type of magic will be communicating to their identical twins."  
  
"McGonagall has a twin?" laghed Ron incredulously, "So which one's the evil one?" 


	5. A Pillow Fight and Problems

The after-hours detective session, rather predictably, broke down after another thirty minutes, simply because the amount they knew on the subject of mirror magic was limited to Hermione's brief research in the library. When it became obvious that there was very little more to say, Ron stood up, looking at Hermione oddly. "Um, well, I'm zonked out, and the Quidditch tryouts are on tomorrow, so i'd better get an early night." Harry snorted. "Early night? Ron, it's twenty to three. a-m."  
  
Ron ignored him and turned to Hermione expectantly. She blushed and reached out for his hand to pull herself up. "I'm off too then." Harry wondered what the matter was. He could see Ginny was getting restless, but thought that Ron and Hermione probably wanted to be left alone. This realisation made an horrible swimmy feeling suddenly jolt the bottom of his stomach as Ron and Hermione walked up the same set of stairs to the dorms. Ginny looked at him and smiled. "Weird, huh, those two getting together? I suppose it can't be particularly nice for you, Harry..."  
  
Harry snapped round to look at her. "Why do you say that?" "Well, they've only been your two best friends for the past, what, five years, and suddenly they're going off together without you to their secret snogging sessions or something..."  
  
Harry sighed. He had the feeling that she had hit the nail on the head. Jealousy wasn't something Harry felt particularly often, except occasionally of Ron and his large family and lack of fame, but Harry was generally, - if not content - then fairly accepting of his lot. "Yeah, Gin. It's weird. But i've got you," he said, his expression changing to a good- natured grin "and I suppose you're better than nothing...." he trailed off teasingly as she jumped on to him with a chair cushion and bopped him on the head with it. He laughed, and hit her back, this soon degenerated into a giggled pillow fight across the length of the common room which finished with the two of them sprawled out, and the room in complete disarray. Harry glanced over at Neville's toad's home- made tank, stored in the common room for easy access which now had a pillow swimming daintily on its surface. They lay there in content silence for a while, when Ginny interrupted by saying "Do you think Ron will get in the team tomorrow?" Harry reassured her that he would. "Who's putting him through his paces?" asked Ginny.  
  
"Oh, I think Cho'll be feeding him, if he's trying for Keeper - you know, throwing the quaffle around for him to save." said Harry quickly. He felt Ginny stiffen beside him. "Cho Chang?" "Yeah, I think so," Harry said, looking away, suddenly aware of the awkwardness of the situation. Of course Ginny must have known about his crush on Cho - Ron had teased him about it the whole length of summer at the Burrow. He shook himself and corrected his mental slip - his old crush on Cho. Didn't even think about her like that any more, well hardly ever anyway. He could feel himself blush in the uncomfortable silence and got up off the floor, and began to put pillows back in their places, absently picking feathers out of his hair. Ginny was sitting up now and stared at him as he worked.  
  
After a while she frowned and got up, and said a quick "g'night then Harry" before going up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. Harry rubbed the back of his neck worriedly. That had gone bad so quickly he reflected, one moment everything had been so nice, now he felt terrible, and he wasn't sure what he had done wrong. He thought back at the summer at the burrow. There had been a lot of teasing about him and Cho, and Ginny, he remembered now, had understandably exited rooms during it. He wondered if he still felt something for Cho. He grimaced. He couldn't lie to himself, something was there, between them, during quidditch practice when Ravenclaw and Gryffindor shared the pitch, or played friendlys. Harry shook himself. That was perfectly natural, surely, after everything that happened at the triwizard cup two years ago. Now they had something, Cedric, in common. Argh! He felt himself already thinking about her rather too affectionately, and all thought of Ginny had just disappeared from his mind. He brought himself sharply back to earth. Tomorrow - tomorrow he wouldn't go beyond polite formalities at the tryouts where conversation with Cho was concerned. Tomorrow he would go to the library with his friends and find out about this 'mirror magic' - or whatever it was called, he was too tired to remember...Tomorrow, well, everything would be just fine tomorrow, Ginny would be fine, Ron and Hermione would have got bored of kissing each other, and Ron would become keeper. Yes, tomorrow would definitely be a good day. 


	6. Tryouts a sense of foreboding cliffhan...

Hi, sorry I was so slow to update! I love all reviewers, and my undying love is not something to be scorned at. If you want a piece of it, you know what to do. R+R! (Ok, sorry, that was really weird, but i'm a writer after all. I spend months in isolation to capture the essence of my characters. Haha.) On with the story:  
  
The only problem was, tomorrow did not seem to quite agree with Harry. For a start, Ginny was actively avoiding him. God, he hadn't expected last night's mild conversation to have such drastic repercussions. Aside from the fact that Hermione and Ron had certainly NOT got bored of kissing each other ('yuckoid', thought Harry, with the precise maturity expected of a seventh year) Cho had also been rather affectionate at quidditch practice that morning, although now he wasn't sure whether this was just what he thought because he was more sensitive to her actions. Or perhaps she had always been like that and he hadn't noticed before. Life seemed overcomplicated at the moment. After all, this was the first year that he hadn't experienced some kind of weird mystery which led to a fun-filled meeting with evil personified, and there was still way too much to think about. Then he remembered that he did in fact have a weird mystery to think about - that whole mirror magic problem, but they didn't seem to be getting particularly far with that.  
  
At about three o'clock the Quidditch trials were about to begin, and Harry scanned the line of people at the end of the pitch in search of Ron. He was glad his own position on the team was secure, he didn't like the idea of standing in line with those other fiercely competitive individuals to have Keeper skills tested in front of a huge crowd of people, from all houses. Even members of the Slytherin team were there to check out the competition, their tryouts having been the previous month. He caught sight of Ron somewhere near the end of the line, nervously picking mud out of his cleansweep's tail twigs. He waved until Ron saw him, then settled down next to a nervous Hermione to watch.  
  
*** Hermione smiled shyly at Ron and echoed Harry's languorous wave in a slightly more restrained manner. Ron caught her eye and smiled nervously. She mouthed 'Good Luck' and tried to keep the nervousness out of her own expression. Ron stood there, his red hair marking him out from the others, but today he did not look out of place or uncomfortable, but as though he really belonged there on the huge pitch, waiting to face Cho Chang and the Weasley twins. Hermione felt a tug at her heart. This would be the first time he made something of it alone, without Harry, without her, and entirely separate from his brothers, this was where Ron would make his mark alone. She looked at him again, and saw how tall he stood, much taller than the others out there, taller and more sure of himself, somehow. And then it was his turn to step up to the line and he mounted his broom. Hermione closed her eyes. She loved it when he flew, he looked so graceful, a different person to the boy who had to hunch his back in potions classes to avoid hitting his head on the dungeons' ceiling. But how ashamed she was at the feeling in her stomach when she watched him flying, the dizzy, swimming feeling which set her head reeling and made her senses a hundred times more receptive...she wondered what Ron would think if he knew the things she imagined when she watched him sometimes. Last night had been amazing, but she was surprised at how gentleman-like Ron had been. Somehow, despite how she felt about him, she had expected his typical male teenage hormones to want to rush her along, past barriers she wasn't sure she wanted to cross just yet; but instead he was heart-breakingly gentle. All this did was make her want him all the more, and she began to wonder whether he didn't like her - perhaps that was why he was being so slow. As Hermione closed her eyes the events of last night washed over her - walking up the same set of stairs to her dormitory, the way Ron placed a silencing spell over the four- poster bed, and the way they sat and gazed at each other in bewilderment of what they had just done, without even talking to each other about it, they had just known, and left Harry and Ginny downstairs to their own devices. And then, as they sat opposite each other Ron had leant over and cupped her face in his strong, warm hands and kissed her so softly that she could only open her mouth further in silent response. She breathed in his scent and tried to remember it now as she stood in the stands, waiting for Ron's testing to begin.  
  
Cho hurled the first ball at the centre of the goalposts and Ron easily fielded it, the second one came hurtling to the right, and Ron managed to swoop across in one swift movement to save that one as well. This rather promising start continued until the tenth ball, which came particularly fast, and which Ron could not save, and Hermione saw Ron wince in frustration as the quaffle flew past his outstretched arms. After that however, every ball which came his way was saved, and for Cho, who had a nastily strong arm, this degree of saving accuracy was impressive. Harry and Hermione exchanged glances. The only other person who had done so well was Madame Hooch, who had wanted to give the waiting contestants an example of 'how it should be done' before the tryouts started. Ron jumped off his broom after the final save, and ran towards his friends in the stands. He was grinning, his face pink with the pleasure on the adrenaline rush. Harry grinned back broadly and patted his on the back : " That was brilliant Ron, in the bag for sure" Ron turned to Hermione, who was positively beaming and rose one eyebrow in questioning anticipation, "Mione? Did you think I was ok?" Hermione just flung her arms around him and squeezed, whispering, "oh, Ron, you were brilliant. They'd be mad if they didn't pick you..." and kissed him fiercely in the midst of about fifty staring Gryffindors. "Hermione!" exclaimed Ron scandalised, "there's people watching!" Fred and George promptly sent magically amplified wolf whistles their way. Both Ron and Hermione blushed furiously. All three made their way to the common room to await the results, which were to be posted later that evening.  
  
There conversation was excited and loud, and they discussed every single shoot (and every incident with a lack of goal, bar one) until they were blue in the face, and then as more Gryffindors entered the common room and made their way over the the fireplace where the trio sat, Ron recieved several slaps on the back and congratulations.  
  
The evening was brilliant, Ron's eyes shone in delight at the attention he was recieving, and Hermione teased him gently at it, but kept her proud gaze on his face. If only they had known what was to come  
  
***  
  
I know, I know, crummy last line! Thank you so much to all for reviewing:  
  
Vels: You are the kind of reviewer we all dream about! Glad you like the story, please send all suggesstions about what you would like to happen to my email address. More Mushiness?? More Adventure? Should Harry and Ginny be dragged through a little more angst? Cheers!  
  
Destiny Elizabeth Weasley: I love your name... thanks for reviewing. Sorry I didn't update very soon, but I hope you keep reading!  
  
Mango: Sorry you couldn't access the chappies at first. I love FF.net but it can be a little temperamental. Do you think they'll delete my story for saying that?  
  
Read and Review folks! Thanks, Sally. 


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